The subject matter disclosed herein relates to wheel bearings and, more particularly, to a preloading axle clamp for a landing gear wheel bearing.
At least some conventional wheel bearings include an inner raceway, an outer raceway, and a plurality of roller elements disposed between the inner raceway and the outer raceway to permit the raceways to rotate relative to each other with minimal frictional force. Such wheel bearings are implemented in a variety of applications, including mounting a wheel on an axle of a landing gear for an aircraft. Often the wheel bearing is preloaded by a process that applies a permanent axial force between the inner raceway and the outer raceway to keep the raceways and the rollers aligned so that they roll properly. In this way, proper preloading eliminates unwanted clearances, creates high stiffness, and reduces noise and vibration, among other benefits for wheel bearing performance. Therefore, precise control of the preload on a landing gear wheel bearing is desirable in order to prolong the operational life of the wheel bearing.
However, preload control may be unreliable for at least some conventional landing gear wheel bearings. Typically, conventional wheel bearing assemblies are effected by a load that is generated from flexure of a landing gear fork. Usually, such loads are unknown and may fluctuate throughout a lifecycle of the landing gear. Therefore, an amount of preload on the conventional landing gear wheel bearings may vary widely depending on the tolerance and the design of the landing gear fork. Further, enduring the additional force from the landing gear fork shortens the operational life of the wheel bearing.
In view of the foregoing, an improved wheel bearing preloading assembly is desired. This disclosure is intended to address the above-noted needs and to provide related advantages.